A very happy Christmas day

We had a wonderful time at Benidorm for Christmas, the hotel we had was very good and the food was too good you were spoilt for choice so had to sample lots.

Benidorm is known as the concrete jungle as it is all high rise buildings, nice to visit but would not like to live there.

The tall building is the Hotel Bali and is the highest Hotel in all of Spain, it stands at 186 mtrs. high. It is a five star hotel and quite expensive to stay in.Our hotel was very nice although only a four star.Here are a couple of photos of ours.

Benidorm is surrounded by mountain and this is what gives it the all year round weather (except when we arrive the rain was bouncing down but the rest of the stay was beautiful). the main mountain is called Sleeping Indian Mountain as when you drive along side it it looks like an Indian with his headdress of feathers lying down the side of the mountain and his mouth is open while asleep.

As you can see there is a gap which is quite large and the story goes:- A giant fell in love with a fair maiden from the fishing village of Benidorm as it once was, and her father forbid his daughter to marry the giant, in his anger the giant tore a chunk of the mountain out and throw it out to see hence we have the Isla De Benidorm.

This island is a bird sanctuary today with only a restaurant and bar on it, there are boat trips to it they run every hour just like a ferry so you can stay as long as you want to.This is the beach and one of the sand sculptures, there was one with the whole nativity scene but with the rain he had covered it over and had not removed the cover while we were there.

We had some presents with us to open on Christmas morning, but my main one I had to help Brian choose it as he was a loss What he wanted.

I got an iphone it is great, I can get my emails away from the computer which will be great when we are out in the van, and all my music on it and it has Microsoft words on. I connected it to my computer and all my documents downloaded to it. there is lots I have to learn what to do with it.When Brian was asked what computer I had (meaning Apple or Windows) he told them it was Packard Bell,I had do see the person myself and give details. The only thing is I had to change my number as my sim was Vodaphone and with this I had to have Movistar. As it's a Movistar (which 02 in the UK, ) it belongs to telifonica (BT in the UK as telifonica owns BT, they are the same company) so have had to learn a new number.

I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas's and you have a good year next year

A very happy new year to each and every one of you from Spain

Jeanette Spain

Happy Christmas

Hi all, this is just a short mini blog to wish you all a very happy Christmas, Feliz Navidad.
I hope you all have a great time and don't over eat well not to much.
I would like to say a very happy Christmas to my dearest friends Tina and Dave, I wish them and you all everything you wish yourselves, good health and good family and friends.
Not to many sausage rolls Sindie save some and send them here to Spain they looked delicious, and Babs go easy on Mo's wonderful cooking. Leeta and Sandie have a very happy Christmas.

Feliz Navidad from Jeanette Spain

A Spanish Christmas

A Spanish Christmas is celebrated very different to the British Christmas.

In the Plaza ( the town square) you will see a model of Belen ( Bethlehem) and other parts of the Holy Land. This is put up in the plaza every year and is opened on the 8th. December at the fiesta of the immaculate conception.

The statue of the Immaculate Conception ( a statue of the virgin Mary ) is carried through the streets to the church, where it stays all year till the next year.

The nativity is a wonder to see with moving parts, fires in the houses, washing blowing on the lines and children singing Spanish Christmas songs.

The Spanish always have this little man warming himself at the fire in their nativities to show that man was not made perfect, we all have our faults, it has become a game each year looking for the bare bottom, it is somewhere different each time.

On Christmas Eve Spanish families their Christmas meal, this begins at 10-30 p.m. and it consists of at least nine course, The meal goes on till after midnight when Christmas day arrives. They do not give presents on Christmas day this comes later on the three kings day. No food is cooked Christmas day they eat the left overs from their banquet.

January 5th. is the Three Kings day, there is a parade through the streets to the Plaza where they give out gifts to the children, it is very similar to our children going to see Father Christmas, but Spanish parents don't have to pay for the children to receive the gifts it is all free. After the Three Kings parade the family has a celebration meal and the children all go to bed to wait for Papa Noel to come if they have been good and go straight to sleep. Sounds familiar doesn't it, when the awake all their Christmas presents have been delivered.These photos are from last January's parade

On new years eve everybody gathers in the plaza in front of the church and wait for the church bells to strike the new year in.

It is a Spanish good luck tradition that on each strike of the bell you pop a seedless grape into your mouth, if you don't eat them very quick you have twelve grapes in your mouth.

We did it last year I could not eat them fast enough and had a mouth full of grapes, but I could not manage the twelve. The supper markets run out of seedless grapes at this time of year, imagine having to do it with grapes with seeds in.

Well all there is left to say is I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year

Feliz Navid y Anos Nueve.

Jeanette Spain

Money from the drunk man

The incident Tina is on about in her comments about picking up the money happened one day when my sister Alicia and I were walking through Doncaster, It was a cold winter afternoon about 4 pm and the road was very quiet, only us and this man who had just come out of the pup we were passing. Well we thought he was a little drunk the clue being he was bouncing of the wall at one side of him to the road on the other side and back again.

As we followed behind him we noticed that he was loosing money from the leg of his trousers, as he walked more and more was hitting the ground. We followed him picking up all these pound coins that were leaving a trail behind him, ( we think he must of won them on the one arm bandit as there was only pound coins).
A little further on his packet of cigarettes came down the leg and landed on the ground, Wow this is some hole he has in his pocket we thought. At last he stopped at a taxi rank,so we approach him with the money and cigarettes and told him he was loosing it out of his pocket, he gave us a look and said finders keepers keep it, your cigarettes we said, not allowed them keep them and got into a taxi and left us standing there looking after him then looking at our hand full of pound coins, we then looked at each other in disbelieve.
As we were working teachers and I was on my own with the children and paying a mortgage and bills it looked like a fortune to us.
What shall we do after some thought we decided to go to BHS and have a drink and a big cream cake.
We counted the coins and they totaled over £30 wow all our birthdays at once.
When we got into the Bhs we remembered the cigarette packet and thought we would have a look and see how many there was before we through them away.
I opened the pack and just sat staring at it speechless my sister starting to panic saying what is it all thoughts going through her head, all but the right one for there sitting in the packet was a roll of notes with an elastic band round them, our cake never got eaten, I showed her the packet and watch her face a mixture of shock, surprise all mixed together, I am going to the toilets I whispered afraid someone would know what we had found, we crept away feeling guilt and fear mixed with all other thoughts and feelings.
As we counted with the money with shaking hands we discovered there was over £300.
What could we do we did not know the person or where he was from, would the police believe us if we told them, then we thought it's not as if we had not told the person and just kept it, SO we went to Blackpool for the week-end and said thank you to a very drunk man who ever he was.

Jeanette Spain

Fiesta time

We were off on our travels once again in Bessie, we were not looking forward to the trip as much as usual as this was to go to the AGM of the Spanish motor caravan club, any AGM I had been to in the past have been a bit heavy going and boring, how wrong was I this time, we had the best meet ever since being in the club (and we have had some great times with them).

We left on the Wednesday and met up with an other member who was on their way to the meet, they informed us they were stopping in Benidorm for the night as it was there fiesta, having been to the Benidorm Fiesta many years ago we agreed to go with them.

The parade started at six pm and went on for two and a half hours there was over a hundred floats and about fifty bands, we were bombarded with confetti and sweets being thrown from the floats. By the end of the parade we had a carry bag full of sweets this was nothing to what the older people had they were diving all over to pick them up, we could not help laughing at them

The float were beautiful and the work that went into them must of took ages. The nice thing about it was that the whole family was involved from babes in arms (dressed up) to the grans and granddads,

This float was beauty and the beast, there were to many floats to photograph and we were picking up sweets as each float passed.

How is this for being brave I could not work out if it was a man or a woman,when he/she was dancing some were saying male then female. As you can see the old man was enjoying it which ever sex it was.

Here are a couple of short videos to show the sort of thing there was.

After the parade finished there was a massive firework display,it was on the beach and went on for one hour, after the ones on the beach were set of they came out from under the sea, with the sprays of water coloured by the light of the fireworks it was a great sight. For the finally a yacht came out of the harbour with fireworks coming from it's deck, then the loudest bangs I have ever heard sounded the end of the display. All this for free we will be back next year to see this again

We set of the next day for Moraira where we were staying for the meet.On the Saturday night we had a social gathering one of our members is a professional musician ( he was with Brian Poole and the Tremolos) and he could still play that guitar and sing, another member played the sax with a band so it was a great night with music from the sixties and plenty jiving. The man with the tambourine was celebrating his 80th. birthday so they let him join in with the band, he played it all night with out a stop. the lady in the blue dress is his wife, she has been blind since birth she danced all night despite being 76 years old. They had driven their motor home from the UK to join us.

All was fine till it came to the draw for the raffle, at the last meeting out Brian and I won three of the four bingo games, then won three of the raffle prizes, embarrassing. We sat waiting for the raffle to be drawn oh no we won first prize, I went up hanging my head to get it with shouts of you again all in fun I hope, second ticket you go this time Brian as we won again with a different colour ticket, third prize not ours thank goodness, fourth you guest it ours, by now I want to slide under the table so sent Brian to choose it, a few more were drawn not us I said to Brian then once again out came ours. Put it back and draw again please I said. This was the first prize we got there was a bottle of champers, white rum, red wine, and white wine, dates, box of chocolates, six bars of chocolate and Christmas tree chocolates all in a basket.

Next morning they marked the quiz we always have, and to our embarrassment we won that as well another bottle of wine, so we have plenty drink in for christmas.

We had a great time and look forward to the next rally but I am buying no more raffle tickets in case we get barred lol.

Jeanette Spain

Brian playing the Pan pipes

Here is Brian trying to play the pan pipes, I told him he is not quite ready to join the Inca's just yet A little bit more practice is needed.

Well I did warn you it would be torture.

Jeanette Spain

Our favorite eating place

We took a trip into Torrevieja but in the daytime today. It is just as beautiful as at the sunset

We Had lunch and just people watched, there were the ones strolling in the warm November sun, a few brave ones in the sea, and ones watching the street entertainment from the Inca's.

This seat is the fisherman's wife looking out to sea for her husband to return home, he never did as there was a storm out at sea and the fishing boats were lost with all lives, this was in the seventies when Torrevieja was just a fishing village. today they have made this area for swimming, there are steps into the water.

After our meal we watched the Inca's and listened to there music fantastic sound, Of course Brian bought another of their CD's the sound of the pan pipes are beautiful(it is playing as I write this).

Brian loves the music of the Inca's and would love to be able to play the pan pipes so he had to buy someone large one and some smaller ones, I have told him he can practice them when I go round to Tina's.

After lunch we walked the few hundred metres to the promenade street market, this is a craft market with a good few lookie lookie men, While we were having lunch one came round selling sunglasses and watches, he was going from table to table when we saw the other lookie lookie men gather up their goods in the blankets they put on the ground to show there goods off and run down the prom, the one at the tables gathered his goods up and ran, it was so funny he was trying to hold ever thing in his arms while doing a hasty retreat, as you can guess the police were coming down the prom. As soon as the police disappeared back came the lookie lookie men and carried on where they had left off. Here is the one going round the tables.

love going round the prom market it is so colourful and as well as Spanish goods there is a lot from Africa most hand carved I



This market is on everyday of the week and is open till around 10 p.m. This is nice in the hot summer to stroll through the market then have a meal and drink ( only soft drinks though as I don't drink and Brian is driving) but we enjoy it all the same.

On the way back to the car Brian spotted a ship going into the loading pier to load up with salt to take to the U K for the roads, most of the salt from Torrevieja is exported to Europe for the roads this ship was a UK one. This is the salt piles near the salt lakes.

What a way to spend a November Saturday morning.

After we arrived home Brian decided he would try his pan pipes out.

I wonder if I can find a good hiding place where he cannot find them, I won't torture you with a video of the noise, I can't say tune if there was one I missed it.

Jeanette Spain

Tabernas Spain

We went out in Bessy for a week to a place called Tabernas, this is in the Nevarda Sierra range of mountains in Andalucia.Tabernas is better know as Mini Hollywood as this was where the spaghetti westerns were filmed with Clint Eastwood,so a visit to the western set was a must.

First though we had the spectacular drive down there ( it is about a four hour drive from us).

As we were getting higher into the mountains it was getting breath taking and our four hour drive turned into five hours as we kept stopping to take in the views.We wondered what the camp site would be like as we went with the Spanish motor home club and had not been that way before, well we were not disappointed, which ever way you looked the view was great

This is the camp site with the BBQ area and the pool.

On the Saturday, the chairman of the motor home club organized a trip to Mini Hollywood, where we were to spend the day,there was the western town where the movies were shot, and behind the town was a large zoo.

There was a staged bank robbery with the usual shoot out and the last baddie standing was hung. The stunts were amazing, how they can fall from a two story high window onto the ground and not hurt themselves is very good.

This is him falling of the roof when he was shot.

After the western show was finished they put on a lunch at the saloon, what a lunch, 13 euros (£8) all you could eat of the three courses buffet style, they put on a show of hill billy singers, then the can can girls, they were good and made it a two hour lunch break.
When the show was finished they picked Brian and another member of our group to have their photo taken with them, they enjoyed that.
After lunch we went animals and there were many of them, here are a few of them.
round the zoo, it is set in the mountains so was a natural area for the

You can see in this last photo the area the zoo was in it was up hills and in valleys fortunately there was a train that you could jump on and off to get to the different areas of the zoo.

After looking round the zoo we made our way back to the western town,, we had our photos taken Brian as a bandit and me a saloon lady felt very silly we were then persuaded well they had to persuade me big time to go for a ride. (I bet you can still here my knees knocking)

All in all we had a wonderful day it was well worth a visit.Our day ended back at the camp site with a social evening and sing song.

The rest of the stay we had BBq's and walks in the mountains and just having a great time.

Jeanette Spain